Shadowing Practice: How To Design YOUR Perfect Kitchen - Learn English Speaking with Video
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Designing a kitchen can seem complicated.
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How do I know if I'm designing the best kitchen for my needs?
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Like what if I mess it up?
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Or what if the designer I'm working with just isn't giving me the vibes that they know exactly what they're doing?
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The steps in this video sound simple and they are simple.
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However, they are absolutely critical in making sure that your kitchen will be designed exactly the way that you need it to be.
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Do not skip any of these.
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Let's jump in.
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First is to measure the space accurately and draw up a blank floor plan
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that you can make copies of or drop a few copies of this.
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Measuring your space accurately is going to help you immensely at the start of this process so that down the road,
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the measurements can all translate as they go.
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And later on, you don't need to find out that, oh, none of this really fits because you measured it wrong.
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Now, that is a no brainer.
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I understand that.
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But you would be surprised at how rushed this process can get sometimes because we just want to get to the drawing.
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We want to get to the 3D images.
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We want to get to the functionality and the accessories.
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And we sometimes can not take our time and get this part right.
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If you slow down and get the measurements absolutely correct and accurate and you understand everything that's happening in your kitchen,
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all the doorways and windows and other obstacles and things
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that can be moved and things that can't be moved and walls that can come down or cannot come down,
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posts and beams and all that stuff.
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If you can understand and measure those things accurately and get a really good picture of the space,
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you'll have a great foundation for a successful kitchen renovation experience.
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And I encourage you to use graph paper and right from the start, begin drawing a scaled measurement drawing of your kitchen.
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You wouldn't believe the amount of times I've had clients come in with measurements written on pieces of gyprock
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and shim shingles and napkins and pieces of scrap paper in the backs of a cigarette carton.
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Just can you get some graph paper and draw this out to scale as you're doing it.
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It's going to help you immensely.
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The reason it's going to help you is because later on down the road,
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you're going to be selecting cabinets that need to fit this space accurately, and you'll know which ones to pick
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because the sizes will be determined by your accurate measurements and the fact that it is drawn to scale.
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And I'll just give you a quick tip.
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Try not to read your tape measure upside down.
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That can cause a lot of problems.
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What I'm about to say I should have probably opened with as the number one thing that you should do,
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and that is to connect with me for a one -on -one consultation to make sure
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that your kitchen is designed exactly the way you need it to be.
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We'll spend an hour or so looking at your design options, answering your questions, and discovering new ideas for your kitchen.
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We can go over lighting or countertops, cabinet construction, accessories, anything else that you need help with.
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There's a link in the description below, and I hope that we can meet.
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Now, once you have this scale drawing, you can use pen and paper for this whole experience,
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this whole process, but if you can translate that to some kind of computer software program that would be very helpful.
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There's free ones out there that you can use.
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Sometimes I use the IKEA home planner because it's very simple and easy to get around.
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At least I find it is, although you have to use their specific cabinets.
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You can also go to homebyme .com.
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It's the same platform that IKEA uses but it's a tool
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that is very simple to navigate and will help you design and draw accurate floor plans.
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There's other ones out there that you can look at, but try those first and then search around the internet to see
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if you can find some free tools that will help you.
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Don't go purchasing anything that is expensive for this process
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because you'll eventually probably end up with a designer that will have the necessary tools to do this for you.
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This is the real key.
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This is where it really starts to become something that allows you to discover the best kitchen.
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Start drawing multiple options of your kitchen.
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I recommend three.
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You can do more than that if you want, but you can get overwhelmed and you can do one or two,
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but that doesn't give you enough options.
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I'd like to have three that you can really plan through
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and look through and test in your own mind and your own thought process on which one is better.
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The first plan should be the one that you kind of are leaning towards.
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Here's where the range is.
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Here's where the fridge is.
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Here's where I want the sink.
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Here's where I want the island if there is one.
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This is kind of the basic layout that you should be planning.
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The second layout should be where you're moving things around, even in places where you don't think they're necessarily going to work.
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You think, well, why would I waste time doing that?
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If you take the time to do this, you will discover a couple things.
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You'll discover that you hate the placement of those things and they need to go back.
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Or you'll discover, hey, this could really work or something like this could work.
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And you open up the space, you open up the design into something that you never thought of.
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It's very simple.
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It's on the computer.
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There's no commitment.
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You can just move things around and discover and play with the design.
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And then make a third design, which is kind of an amalgamation of your first and second,
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to try to massage the two to come up with something that's different, that's equally as good in your mind as your first design.
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This gives you a really good picture of the possibilities for your space.
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In doing so you can discover some nuances about your kitchen design that you may not have thought were possible.
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This will help you make clearer decisions on the things that you do and do not want for your kitchen space.
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For instance, if you move the window and you realize, wow, this completely changes everything in my kitchen.
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I really should think about doing that, putting some of this budget towards moving a window, investigating that, going down that rabbit hole.
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Or you'll discover that, no, that's definitely not going to work.
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The window can stay.
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Phew, I don't need to spend the extra money.
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But at least you will know in this stage.
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This is absolutely vital, vital, vital.
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I can't stress it enough.
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Do not just design one floor plan.
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So you have three layouts and you pick one as being the winner.
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This is the absolute best way this kitchen can be laid out.
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Now that's not the end of the story.
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That is really the jumping off point for this next part,
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which is molding this layout into something that is the most functional and usable for you, the homeowner.
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You do that first by making a few lists.
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The first list you're going to want to make are the big items that you want to put in this kitchen.
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Your dreams, your wants, your needs, the things that you absolutely love, that you've been thinking about,
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that you've seen online, that you've seen in a kitchen picture, and you're like, I want that.
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I love this look.
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I want to do this in my kitchen.
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Now is the time to make a list of those things
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and determine which of those are possible
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or what alterations of those things are possible because now you have a workable floor plan that you're very satisfied with.
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It's to scale.
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You know what's going to fit and what's not going to fit.
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You know how many of these things are able to be implemented in that design, and you now have a successful platform to do that with.
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The next list you should make are the things in your kitchen that you currently have that you love.
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The thing that you use every day, the way that you use something, the interaction between the work zones, the way something is.
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Maybe it's a surface, maybe it's the way something opens or the direction of something.
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Just be something in your kitchen, a nuance of your current space that you definitely want to bring into your new kitchen.
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Make a list of these.
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They don't have to be long.
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There maybe aren't any, but you should go through that process of thinking, what do I love about this old kitchen?
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Yes, it's, you know, really bugging me and it doesn't really function that great.
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But this one little thing I kind of like and I want to bring that over.
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I think that's important because it's something that works and is functional.
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You should be thinking about putting it in your new kitchen.
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You shouldn't leave it behind just because it's in the old kitchen.
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The third list are all the things you are bringing to your new kitchen your small appliances, your pots, your Tupperware, your shaker bottles,
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your glasses, your cups, your bowls, your utensils, all of those things that you're bringing over,
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you want to make a pretty detailed list of those things
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and the larger things you should measure as well to make sure
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that you are putting in the proper ways to store those in your new space.
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And the fourth list should be the things that you can honestly say you don't use and can get rid of.
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decluttering and organizing your space beforehand can be very helpful so that you're not bringing unnecessary items into your new kitchen.
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Take an honest look at some of the things in your kitchen
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that you never use and you can get rid of and then maybe get rid of them.
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Now if there's some things you want to hold on to for nostalgic reasons
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or your great -grandmother owned it of course keep those things.
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I'm not saying that but the stuff that you never use
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that you got as a wedding gift 24 years ago
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and it's just been sitting there in the back of a cabinet like maybe just consider clearing
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that space out and allowing for the new kitchen to have a lot of room to breathe.
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While all this is happening, there should be in the background a realistic budget that is also in play.
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I don't think it's wise to do all of this work
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and then decide on your budget because you can come up with a really beautiful floor plan, all the accessories, all the appliances,
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all the functional things you want to do.
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You have your cabinets picked out, you know everything you want and then you have your budget and your budget goes,
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we can't do any of that.
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And you're disappointed.
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So as you're doing all this alongside of it, make sure that there's a really good,
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clear picture of the amount of money you want to invest that this all fits into.
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Because if not, it can be very disappointing.
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And knowing what a good budget is can be challenging in the first place.
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If you've never done a kitchen renovation, how do you even know what to expect?
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Is it going to cost me $20 ,000, $30 ,000, $50 ,000?
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What can I do this for?
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How much money do I need?
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If you know your budget is, say, $25 ,000, you can approach it with that number in mind
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so that when you get to the floor plan stage and you have something roughly dropped out,
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you can go and get a rough idea of what those cabinets are going to cost.
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They might change.
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There may be things added, but it'll give you some ideas of here's the basic cost for cabinets.
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This will also help you with countertop pricing and flooring pricing and all those accessories.
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So you can get a kind of a rough idea of what this is going to cost.
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Now, it's going to cost more than that because you are going to add things.
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There's gonna be things that change.
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But at least you'll have the knowledge that, okay, here's where we're at.
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I have room to spend, or I've already blown my budget and I haven't even got to the fine details of this kitchen yet,
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so where do I go from there?
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That information is super valuable in helping you assess your kitchen renovation needs so you can get the best kitchen.
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not only for you, but also for your pocketbook, which is ultimately for you.
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And try to keep a good attitude as you go through this whole process.
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Any renovation can be stressful.
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It's a big purchase that cannot be changed easily.
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There's a lot of variables in a kitchen renovation,
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from color to door style to material to countertops and flooring and lighting and everything else in between and not in between.
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There's so many things.
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I can tell you that it's scary.
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but if you have a good attitude about it
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and just try to be as positive as you can
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that this is this is a great opportunity i can't believe
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we're going to design this new kitchen it's going to be awesome there will be some hiccups
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but we'll get through those and if you can have
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that kind of mindset i think it will be helpful lastly you're going to want to do a function check
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which is to kind of assess all the cabinets where the
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drawers are where the pullouts are where the pantry is what's under the sink what's over the fridge which in the corner
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Do a function check and see, is this going to work the way I want it to work?
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When I open this pantry and I have two pullouts and a shelf, is that what I want?
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Do I want four pullouts?
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Do I want no pullouts?
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What is it in that pantry is going to work the best for me?
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Do a function check.
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Underneath your sink, do I need a pullout?
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Is there going to be garbage there?
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What's under there for plumbing?
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Is there a system under there for the water filtration?
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Is there a garbage disposal?
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Is there a garbage can?
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What is happening under there above the fridge?
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Is it just going to be an abyss that I can't ever access
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or do I want to do something special up there?
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Go through all the cabinets one by one and functionally just figure out how is this going to work?
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Can I reach it?
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Can I not reach it?
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What am I going to do here?
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What's going to be stored in these cabinets?
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This is a really good approach.
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It is a little tedious and you might drive your designer nuts.
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I don't know, but you should go through that process
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and do a really good function check and then maybe get a second set of eyes.
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It can be your friend.
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It could be someone who just has an eye for interior design, maybe.
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It could be through a consultation with someone like me or someone else who does consultations for kitchen designs.
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It could be another designer somewhere.
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Get a second set of eyes to look through and be like, what are you doing with this?
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Is this really how you want that?
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And you can think through, oh, yeah, I did that for this reason.
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Good.
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Or, oh, I never really thought of that.
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After all this, what you'll end up with is a plan,
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is a picture of a kitchen that is 100 times better than those three pictures we looked at earlier.
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It might not be 100 times more beautiful.
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It might not even be 100 times more functional.
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But it will be 100 times better because it is designed specifically for you.
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And the internet is not going to show you that.
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That is something you have to assess.
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These tools hopefully will help you and
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if you follow these things I am confident
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that you will end up with a design with a layout
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that you can be proud of you can be happy with
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that you can move into knowing that you've done everything you can to make sure
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that it is exactly the way you want it.
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Then you'll use the kitchen for three months and realize I forgot about this.
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Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson
This speaking lesson is built on the video “How To Design YOUR Perfect Kitchen”. The speaker keeps coming back to these words: kitchen, design, space. This video has 227 sentences and 2837 words to shadow. The speech runs for 13:12. The speaker talks fast, about 215 words per minute, so expect linked and reduced sounds. 88% of the words are among the 3,000 most common in English, so the vocabulary is easy to follow.
Key vocabulary in this video
15 words from the video worth learning, with pronunciation and meaning:
| Word | Pronunciation | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| discover verb | /dɪˈskʌvə/ | To find or learn something for the first time. |
| layout noun | /ˈleɪ.aʊt/ | A structured arrangement of items within certain limits. |
| measurement noun | /ˈmɛʒ.ə.mənt/ | The act of measuring. |
| renovation noun | /ɹɛnəˈveɪʃən/ | An act, or the process, of renovating. |
| designer noun | /dɪˈzaɪnɚ/ | A person who designs something, or who designs things as a profession. |
| functional adjective | /ˈfʌŋkt͡ʃənəl/ | In good working order. |
| accurately adverb | /ˈæk.jə.ɹɪt.li/ | In an accurate manner; exactly; precisely; without error or defect. |
| accessory noun | /əkˈsɛs.(ə.)ɹi/ | Something that belongs to part of another main thing; something additional and subordinate, an attachment. |
| helpful adjective | /ˈhɛlp.fl̩/ | Furnishing help; giving aid; useful. |
| vital adjective | /ˈvaɪtəl/ | Relating to or characteristic of life. |
| sink verb | /ˈsɪŋk/ | To descend or submerge (or to cause to do so) into a liquid or similar substance. |
| garbage noun | /ˈɡɑɹ.bɪd͡ʒ/ | Food waste material of any kind. |
| assess verb | /əˈsɛs/ | To determine, estimate or judge the value of; to evaluate; to estimate. |
| consultation noun | /ˌkɑnsəlˈteɪʃən/ | The act of consulting. |
| graph noun | /ɡɹæf/ | A data chart (graphical representation of data) intended to illustrate the relationship between a set (or sets) of numbers (quantities, measurements or… |
Phrasal verbs you will hear
| Word | Meaning |
|---|---|
| go through verb | To travel from one end of something to the other. |
| come down verb | To descend, fall down, collapse. |
| come up with verb | To manage to produce, deliver, or present (something) by inventing, creating, thinking of, or obtaining it. |
| look through verb | To take a view of the contents of; search in, either with the eyes or by hand. |
| open up verb | To open. |
| bring over verb | To cause to change allegiance or point of view. |
| draw up verb | To compose (a document), especially following a standard form; prepare a plan. |
| drop out verb | To leave (school, a race, etc.) prematurely and voluntarily. |
Sentences worth repeating
Short, complete lines from the video that you can reuse in everyday conversation:
- What can I do this for?
- How much money do I need?
- Do I want four pullouts?
- Do I want no pullouts?
- Underneath your sink, do I need a pullout?
Grammar in this video
The structures the speaker uses most, with the exact words from the video:
| Structure | In the video |
|---|---|
| Present perfect continuous have/has been + -ing — an action that started earlier and is still going on | you've been thinking · it's just been sitting |
| Passive voice be + past participle — the focus is on what happens, not who does it | will be designed · can be moved · is drawn |
| Present perfect have/has + past participle — a past action that still matters now | I've had · you've seen · you've never done |
| Relative clauses who / which + clause — extra information about a person or thing | design, which is · pocketbook, which is · someone who just |
Pronunciation to watch
The speaker uses 61 contractions and reduced forms, such as you're, you'll, don't. Say them the short way, as you hear them.
- The “th” sounds: breathe /bɹiːð/, grandmother /ˈɡɹæn(d)ˌmʌðɚ/, underneath /ˌʌndɚˈniθ/
- The “sh” and “zh” sounds: measurement /ˈmɛʒ.ə.mənt/, renovation /ɹɛnəˈveɪʃən/, consultation /ˌkɑnsəlˈteɪʃən/, rush /ɹʌʃ/, interaction /ˌɪn.təˈɹæk.ʃən/
- Long words — get the stress right: renovation /ɹɛnəˈveɪʃən/, accurately /ˈæk.jə.ɹɪt.li/, accessory /əkˈsɛs.(ə.)ɹi/, consultation /ˌkɑnsəlˈteɪʃən/, necessarily /ˌnɛs.əˈsɛɹ.ə.li/
How to practise with this video
- Listen to the whole video once without speaking and note the words you do not know.
- Start at 0.75× speed, shadow it sentence by sentence, then go back to normal speed once it feels easy.
- Record yourself and compare with the original, paying attention to words like discover, layout, measurement.
What is the Shadowing Technique?
Shadowing is a science-backed language learning technique originally developed for professional interpreter training and popularized by polyglot Dr. Alexander Arguelles. The method is simple but powerful: you listen to native English audio and immediately repeat it out loud — like a shadow following the speaker with just a 1–2 second delay. Unlike passive listening or grammar drills, shadowing forces your brain and mouth muscles to simultaneously process and reproduce real speech patterns. Research shows it significantly improves pronunciation accuracy, intonation, rhythm, connected speech, listening comprehension, and speaking fluency — making it one of the most effective methods for IELTS Speaking preparation and real-world English communication.